[New] Local hero

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At the top of the market, there’s the MercedesBenz EQV, but its hefty price tag means only top-line chauffeurs are likely to buy. Ford and Volkswagen are readying new EVs for launch in 2023.

But Stellantis – the automotive conglomerate that includes Vauxhall, Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën and others – might provide the solution for some operators – depending on the sort of work you do.

Stellantis’ mid-sized panel van is available under a variety of brands, most notably as the Vauxhall Vivaro, which is built in the UK at the Luton factory. There are passenger versions too, including Peugeot Traveller, Fiat Ulysse and, via a licence deal, Toyota ProAce. And the same vehicle also comes in Citroën flavour, as the e-Space Tourer. Badge engineering that British Leyland of the 60s and 70s would be proud of!

We’re testing the Citroën ë-SpaceTourer Business Edition. This version is not a luxury MPV – though there is the option to specify Business Lounge trim, which gives the option of individual second row seats, conference seating and leather trim.

Instead, the Business Edition has a basic and robust trim level, with fabric-covered seats in three rows, offering a total of nine seats. The seats are built for durability rather than opulence – this is not a car for long-distance travel – for a variety of reasons that we’ll come on to.

It’s finished in metallic paint, but with 16in steel wheels rather than fancy, kerbable alloys.

Our test car is the shorter (M) of two available wheelbases, and we’d recommend that you look to the XL version if your work involves a lot of luggage-lugging. The XL version has an extended body aft of the rear axle, which means a lot more loadspace. On our test van, our standard cases fitted side-on, but not flat.

Inside, it’s clear that we’re dealing with a vanderived vehicle. There’s acres of dark grey plastic on doors and dash – sturdy, hard stuff, not padded soft-touch materials. The driver’s seat is comfortable, though, and the driving position is good, without too much of a clamber to get in.

The features are basic but well laid-out, with a decent satnav system a small but clear 7in touch screen. This offers Apple/Android compatibility as well as with DAB and Bluetooth. There are USB and 12v sockets, including one in the boot.

The rear cabin is accessed via wide, square doors with no rear wheel arch intrusion. The floor is low, and there is a step to help less agile passengers get in without difficulty. The second row seats tip forward by operating a lever at the rear base of the seat, giving easy access to the third row.

On the road, the vehicle feels as solid and secure as you’d expect from a vehicle with a gross weight of more than 3 tonnes. The electric powertrain is smooth, and acceleration is sprightlier than you’d get from a diesel version of the same vehicle, and a lot quieter too.

It’s manoeuvrable in town, and the relatively low roof should get you into multi-storey car parks if necessary. Switch to ‘B’ mode and you have almost one-pedal driving, with much more braking regeneration.

So far so good. This is a decent private hire seven-seater, perfect for local work, taxi rank jobs, or picking up groups of people heading into town for a night out. So what’s not to like?

In short, the range. At a time when 300-mile verdict

EVs are becoming commonplace, it’s somewhat disappointing to find that the ë-SpaceTourer – and the passenger versions of its brand-engineered siblings – comes with a 50kW battery. This gives a quoted WLTP combined range of 135 miles, which improves to just under 200 miles in city mode.

This does limit the usability of the vehicle, and whether it works for an operator will depend on a number of factors. Firstly, what kind of jobs are you doing? If it’s all urban pick-ups and drop-offs, careful driving should allow drivers to complete a shift on a charge. London traffic moves at an average speed of 11mph, and it’s not a lot better in most other cities these days.

So an 8-hour shift should only use around 80 miles of juice. Providing you can access a rapid charger (100kW), you can be back up to 80% charge in just over 30 minutes. Ideal if you have a charger at your depot or base – but more of a problem if you’ve got to hunt for a free charger in your town.

Of course, overnight charging is an option too, providing your driver has access to a standard charger. On a 7.4kW charger, it’ll take about 7 hours 30 minutes to recharge fully. Once again, if you know you have regular working patterns and you’re not going to be doing much above 100 miles a day, then it’ll work OK.

The Citroën ë-SpaceTourer is a well-made, well thought-out people-mover that, on the face of it, should be an ideal urban taxi, flexible enough for local groups and family airport runs – especially in XL guise. But it does highlight many of the problems with this generation of electric vehicle. Range is not as good as it might be, and any operator choosing this car really should have some experience of running EVs – especially in terms of having a charging strategy. If you have your own rapid chargers, and if your drivers have overnight charging facilities, then this vehicle could do a job for you. Citroën has a deal with PodPoint to install home or workplace chargers, which is worth factoring in to your purchase decision.

On the plus side, it’s affordable – our test car costs £33,170 on the road, which is a lot less than many much smaller EVs, and even cheaper than an MG5 estate. But don’t expect this to be ideal for long-haul work. Range is nowhere near what you’d need for inter-city work, and even airport pick-ups and drop-offs might need to be scheduled so as to include top-up charging en route to the pick-up. What’s really frustrating is the van version of the ë-SpaceTourer, the Citroën Dispatch, does come with a bigger 75kW battery. This takes range beyond 200 miles in general use, and well above that in city conditions. Addition of this pack would be most welcome – though it would probably bump the price up closer to £40,000.

We tested the ë-SpaceTourer during December’s very cold weather, and that does have an effect on performance (though without a warm weather test for comparison it’s hard to measure the impact). But we did find a significant boost in range when switching from Normal to Eco mode, though this brings other issues – including limiting the use of the heater. Having the heater on constantly could knock 20 miles off your range, which is a problem when you’re starting with a relatively low range.

In an afternoon’s driving around Surrey suburbs, with a stretch of A3 from Tolworth to Cobham thrown in for good measure, we saw the range drop 33 miles from 69 miles at the start to 36 miles by the end. In that test, we covered a total of 25 miles, so in real-world use the battery depletion rate was faster than the miles covered.

Had we stayed in Eco mode throughout, I suspect the rate would have been on the money. But I wouldn’t bank on that quoted 136 miles as a safe range. Work on 85-90 miles between charges and you’ll be anxiety-free.